My Sunshine
by Meepyonnee
Summary: "I don't remember everything . . . I just know your name, Naru. And that I love you." -:- A series of vignettes. Reverse chronology.
1. VIII

\- VIII -

"Here," he said, handing her the paintbrush she'd been looking for all day. Her doctor had given her this, saying drawing and painting would help her rehabilitation. "I found your roommate using it as a drum stick."

"Thank you, Naru."

"You're welcome, Mai."

As the sun set, it painted the sky with shades of color she could never capture no matter how many times she'd tried. The sketchbook in her hands housed many different versions of the sunset — from the view outside her ward, at the rooftop, or here at the garden. Not one of them was quite pink enough, or had the right amount of orange, with blues too blue and reds too faint.

What she struggled with the most was how the sun painted the horizon, how it painted _him_. The colors flattered him perfectly. The pinks and reds caressing his pale skin, the blues giving a shine to his hair, the warm orange bringing out a sparkle in his eyes.

She'd never attempted to capture his image, afraid she wouldn't give him justice. And every time she'd thought to try, there was a small voice in her mind telling her to stop—it said his eyes would be too dull, his hair too flat, his posture too rigid. As if it knew what he should have looked like.

And maybe be the voice did. Maybe _she_ did.

She hoped so.

She wanted to remember him.

-:-:-:-:-


	2. VII

\- VII -

"You . . . you were in my memory."

After two hours of searching everywhere inside the hospital, she found him at the rooftop, sitting on one of the stone slabs. He stared at the buildings below him, taking in everything and nothing at once.

He was her only friend in here. Other than the doctors and nurses who took care of her because that was their job, he was always there to help her up when she fell. Patient and gentle and kind.

She considers him her friend, and yet they've talked only once. And now, here when she spoke, he turned to her slowly with wide eyes. His mouth formed an O, looking as if he was about to gasp, and perhaps he _did_ only that she couldn't hear.

"You . . . remember me?"

"I don't remember everything . . . I just know your name, Naru. And that I love you."

-:-:-:-:-


	3. VI

\- VI -

"Hold her down! Nurse, prepare the morphine. Quickly!"

She thrashed and writhed against the restraints, trying desperately to free her hands. Her head throbbed to the pounding of her heart, each beat as heavy as the sky. She needed to stop it, she needed to wrap her hands around her temples.

 _"Please . . . it hurts please stop . . . please stop the pain . . ."_

She was so close. So close to remembering. She had felt it, almost at the tips of her fingers, just waiting for her to grasp it.

But it got away. Like a fallen leaf flowing with a river's current, it got away.

It was _his_ fault. If he hadn't done that . . . If he just hadn't tried to _kiss_ her . . . She wouldn't have been startled; she wouldn't have broken her concentration.

Then again . . . It was thanks to him she almost remembered. When he embraced her from behind it brought upon a forgotten memory of a time she once lived in the past.

In which she was in love.

-:-:-:-:-


	4. V

\- V -

"One step at a time, Ms. Taniyama, you can do it!"

She grasped at the metal bars parallel at both her sides, curling her fingers tightly to keep them from slipping. Sweat pooled at her back, dripping down her legs that struggled to stand. Her muscles refused to cooperate, rebelling against what her brain demanded them to do.

The doctors said the slight paralysis was a temporary after-effect of her minute-long clinical death. Then there's also the six epinephrine shots that restarted her heart. _Six._ One would have been enough, she was told. Six could have _killed_ her again.

"Three more steps and we're done for the day, you can make it!" the nurse encouraged her.

She took in a deep breath and released it in short puffs, arms burning with the effort to support her body as her legs threatened to fold against themselves. With eyes unfocused, she looked out the window to the hallway and saw _him,_ hands pressed against the glass.

 _'I believe in you,'_ he mouthed.

Those last three steps weren't as daunting anymore.

-:-:-:-:-


	5. IV

\- IV -

" . . . Where," she mumbled, trying to see behind the glaring light above her. "Where . . ."

"Miss, do you remember who you are? What is the last thing you remember doing?" asked a man clad head to toe in medical scrubs.

"Where . . . Where is . . ."

"Miss, _do you remember who you are?"_

"I . . ."

The door burst open, another man in scrubs headed toward her. Every part of his body was covered except for his eyes — his frantic blue eyes.

 _"Mai,"_ he said, in such a way that he half-choked, half-whispered. He crossed the distance between them, ignoring the doctor who seemed to want him to go back outside, and went straight to her. He reached for her hand, cradling it in both of his.

"Do . . ." she started. "Do you know . . . where . . ."

"You're in a hospital, Mai," he answered, relief flooding his eyes when he heard her voice. "I'm so sorry . . . It was my fault. I should've —"

"Where," she insisted. "Where is . . . she?"

"Where is who, Mai?" he asked.

"Where is _she?"_ she repeated, desperation coating her words. "Where is . . . _where_ . . ." Her breath became ragged, her hand tightening around his. "I . . . don't remember," she cried, tears streaking across her cheeks.

It was then that her mind found clarity. For the first time, she took a good look around her, scrutinizing all six people in the room. Including herself.

"Who are you?" she asked the man with blue eyes. "Who . . . am _I?"_

-:-:-:-:-


	6. III

\- III -

 _'We did everything we could. I'm sorry, Mr. Shibuya . . .'_

"Don't, Naru-bou! What would she have said?! Don't do this!"

"Naru please! S-she wouldn't have wanted you to be this way!"

The voices came from outside the room. She tried to open her eyes but found that she couldn't. There was a thin piece of cloth covering her face, making it hard for her to breathe properly. She wanted to get it off her, but only her fingers would cooperate. Her arms were useless logs at her sides.

"She would have wanted you to live your life! Don't—don't give up yet! It isn't right for you to die just because she left first!"

"Naru, think about your parents! Mr. and Mrs. Davis would be devastated to lose another son!"

Drowned against the voices, a faint beeping sound struggled to normalize its tempo. She could feel the same pattern beating through her wrists.

". . . Goodbye, everyone."

"NARU!"

From farther away, the sound of rushing footsteps echoed. The voices stopped as the footsteps reached them, then started again, peppering questions as the door to her room opened. The beeping noise—her _heartbeat_ , she realized—grew louder in response.

-:-:-:-:-


	7. II

\- II -

Strangely, she was comfortable not having a body.

She stared at the scene before her, tranquility flowing through her despite chaos enveloping the air. The sun had set, painting the world with the forlorn colors of twilight. One car, and another, lay twisted at the road, having two passengers each.

She went to the second one — the black one — and saw herself buried under what was once her seat. Blood soaked through her clothes, dripping from the wound on her head and from the gashes across her limbs. She wasn't breathing.

Beside her was Naru, and it was when she noticed him that she was filled with dread. There wasn't as much blood on him than there was on her — the shattered glass had mostly spared him, but there was a wide cut across his forehead. Was he all right? Was he even alive?

She reached toward his face, then his shoulders. Shaking him harder and harder, screaming, yelling, _demanding_ him to wake up.

And he did. He opened his eyes, but it took a while for them to adjust. He gained awareness as he heard the shrill sound of a siren, looking around him and seeing her body.

He froze. For a long time, he just sat there and gaped at her limp, still body. The paramedics surrounded the car, and still he was frozen.

It was when the medics opened the doors that he uttered her name, asking her to wake up. It was when they removed her from the twisted car that he started to reach for her.

It was when they were in the ambulance, when a medic said the baby wouldn't make it, that he cried.

-:-:-:-:-


	8. I

\- I -

"Naru! Oh my god . . . _NARU!_ Come here! Hurry up!"

Squealing in delight, she got out of the bathroom and ran across the bedroom, to the living room then the kitchen. She found him at the garage, tinkering with the car again.

"Naru I have something — _oof_ — to tell you," she grunted as she ran into him, pulling him into a tight embrace.

"What is it?" he asked, putting away the bottle of brake fluid in his hands. "This isn't about that variety show again, is it?" he chuckled.

"No," she giggled, eyes alight with excitement. "It's about something _huge_."

"You said that about buying some tablecloth last week."

"Oh, wipe that smirk off your face," she said. "This one's better, I promise."

"Out with it then," he said, turning around to kiss the tip of her nose.

"Uh-uh, I have to tell everyone at the same time," she teased, sticking out her tongue. "So come on! Let's go to the office!"

"Do you promise this isn't about tablecloth?"

"I promise."

He chuckled, kissing her brow.

"Let's go."

-:-:-:-:-

* * *

 _A/N: So... how was it? (*laughs maniacally*) I had so much fun writing this! It's the first time I tried reverse chronology and it turned out great, don't you think? :D_

 _Very special thanks to archangelBBQ (hey i thought you were gonna change that?) because of her fantabulous brainwaves~ It's your turn now!_

 _And you, my wonderful precious readers! Thank you so sooo much! Especially to those who followed this story and added it to their favorites! And aaahhh to those who reviewed: I **love** you guys. Seriously if I could just marry you all, then I would have done so **yesterday**._

 _-:-_

 _A/N 2: (011016) In hindsight, I should have titled this Jamais vu. Ugh. Oh well. C_ _'_ _est la vie._


End file.
